A Ukrainian doctor has been offered a house for herself and her family to stay in as thanks for helping to save the life of a Russian man with Covid.

Olga Pantas, 42, was working as a cardiologist in Kyiv in Ukraine, when she treated Konstantin Tarasov in 2021.

When Russia invaded Ukraine a few months later he offered her the use of his second home in Fairford, Gloucestershire.

He said it was his turn to save her and urged her to come to the UK, she said.

"He is a very good person," Dr Pantas added.

Dr Pantas stayed in contact with Russian-born Mr Tarasov following his treatment and now lives with her children in his second home in Fairford near the Wiltshire border.

Mr Tarasov, who trains pilots for a Ukrainian airline, lives in his primary residence in London.

Dr Pantas had been visiting her dying grandmother in the village of Semenivka when the Russian forces invaded in 2022.

During the heavy fighting that ensued she was forced to take shelter with her children, aged 15 and seven, in a basement.

"I didn't believe what was happening, it was like a horror film," she told BBC Radio Wiltshire.

"I waited and waited hoping the fighting would stop. We couldn't believe it was continuing," she added.

After three weeks under fire, Dr Pantas left the village with her children and extended family and set off for Western Ukraine.

Two months later she applied for emergency visas to travel to England.

Dr Pantas is now working as a medical support worker at the Great Western Hospital in Swindon and said all the children had settled into their new home and schools.

She said everyone she and the children had met had been extremely kind and understanding and she was especially grateful to her friend Mr Tarasov.

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